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AIBU?

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Original poster

to ask if you have ever had a dream so vivid you couldn't distinguish it with reality?

142 replies

vividdream · 12/09/2017 19:02

I had a very vivid dream over the weekend which seemed unusually clear and real. When I woke up I wasn't sure if I was still in the dream as everything in the dream seemed so real and solid and since then it has made me think about reality and whether I am still dreaming as it was so vivid and elements of it were indistinguishable from real life. I have never had a dream that real and lucid before.

Has anyone had an experience like this?

OP posts:
Teddy1970 · 12/09/2017 19:08

Yes i have them now and then, and you really know the difference between this type of dream and a regular one, the last one I had I was talking to my late Father, there was no mumbo jumbo like you normally get in dreams, we were having a two way conversation, it was very very vivid...my friend (who's a bit woo) said sometimes when you dream, your soul can visit other planes, not sure myself, but it's food for thought!

Ttbb · 12/09/2017 19:09

Yes, I once dreamt that I awoke in the middle of the night and the sky outside my window looked like an oil painting to put it briefly. It was so vivid and (baring the sky) so realistic that I had a hard time accepting that it hadn't happened.

SinglePringle · 12/09/2017 19:11

Yes. I still question whether I took my dads car and drove it whilst they were away for the weekend and before I passed my test.

It's that vivid, 'normal' and undream like that I honestly do still wonder on occasion (but know I didn't steal his car as they'd used it to go away!)

DameDiazepamTheDramaQueen · 12/09/2017 19:12

My dreams are really,really vivid and realistic. Tbh I find it exhausting because if it's a bad dream it affects how I feel the next day.

OlderGolder · 12/09/2017 19:14

Yes, I had a dream that I 'remembered' I'd killed somebody. In the dream I was very distressed to have realised that I was capable of that and that I'd blocked it out, and now that I had 'remembered' it I had it on my conscience. When I woke up it still felt so much like a memory.

HooraySunshine · 12/09/2017 19:15

Yes! I've had a dream like this before. It was so 'real' and involved something I secretly/deeply wanted to be true. In my dream, what I wanted was becoming a reality and it all played out exactly as I had hoped for for so long. I was so happy. When I woke up it was upsetting to find it was just a dream and none of the events had actually happened. I actually cried at the 'loss'. I couldn't stop thinking about that dream for months afterwards. It was so 'real' how could it not be true?
Years ago my ex used to have dreams about sex. He would dream about us making out, doing the deed and then he would actually cum in his sleep. He would wake up 'Ah, babe that was amazing!' Hmm Glad you enjoyed it!

Aquamarine1029 · 12/09/2017 19:18

Almost every night. I always have. I can even wake up in the middle of the night, remember the dream and want to continue it, and go back into the same dream (or rather the same "plot line") when I fall back to sleep.

DailyMailReadersAreThick · 12/09/2017 19:20

Yes. I often have anxiety dreams about missing exams (haven't been a student in years!) or missing a flight. Sometimes when I wake up I still feel that crushing sense of failure and frustration and have to sit and think to convince myself it wasn't real.

I also had a dream recently where, in the dream, I thought "It's like I'm dreaming" but had no doubt that it was reality and it was only LIKE a dream. I'd never quite understood Descartes argument about reality before that, and found it really disturbing that I can be convinced of a false reality so easily.

peachgreen · 12/09/2017 19:21

I regularly have a dream where I've forgotten who DH is. I'll be dating one of my exes and have this horrible unsettling feeling that I've forgotten someone, that I met someone who was perfect for me and this person isn't it. They're SO vivid that when I wake up and see DH next to me I end up crying with relief!

Rufustherenegadereindeer1 · 12/09/2017 19:21

Same here aqua

Some of the most vivid involve my dead mother, dreams were i still wake up thinking shes alive and the past 17 years have been the dream

And last night i had a very vivid dream about MIL who died on Saturday

ijustwannadance · 12/09/2017 19:23

I'm exactly the same as Dame. I almost always remember them clear as day so they seem like real memories.

My worst are the ones where I think I have already woken up. Everything will look completely normal in my bedroom but the little voice in my head tells me something is very wrong. I then try everything to wake myself up. Bit like Inception!Grin

Lules · 12/09/2017 19:26

Yes, in fact I had a dream last night that I'm not sure was a dream.

OutrageousFlavourLikeFreesias · 12/09/2017 19:26

I once dreamed that I was listening to the news on the radio and it was announced that Boris Johnson had died. I think it was the complete mundanity of it that threw me. I have no emotional connection to Boris Johnson (well, I can't stand the fucker but I don't know him personally or anything), so it never occurred to me I might be wasting valuable sleep time on dreaming about his death.

I found out he hadn't when I mentioned it to someone at work and was put straight.

QuiteChic · 12/09/2017 19:39

I've been waiting for weeks for a speeding ticket to turn up in the post - but it's occurred to me I must have been dreaming. It was so real - I 'saw' the flash of the camera. My best dream was after my Grandad died. Like Teddy - I had a full conversation with him; he told me that he felt better than he had done in years, he had no more pain and he could walk miles without getting of our breath - it was wonderful to see him so well. The following day I felt so happy.

MatildaTheCat · 12/09/2017 19:44

Older I've also had the dream when I 'remembered' that I'd killed someone. I woke up with my heart pounding and sweating. It took me some time, by which I mean days/ weeks to be totally certain it was untrue, mainly because the spot where I'd in my dream hidden the body was, in fact, far too small. It a horrible feeling.

I also get nightmares in which I am asleep and dream I've been awoken by an intruder which feels absolutely real.

I hate my dreams sometimes.

SilverySurfer · 12/09/2017 19:48

Yes, my Father died thirty years ago and some time after his death I had a dream that I met with him, we hugged and kissed and I was so happy. I
was then completely devastated when I awoke and it took me a long time to get over the fact it wasn't real.

livingthegoodlife · 12/09/2017 19:48

all my dreams are this vivid. I find it exhausting as it affects me the next day, eg i feel sad about people dying, i feel tired from all the energy, i have got comfort from some dreams too.

i have woken up in a bad mood from something my husband did in a dream which i didnt realise at first was a dream etc.

FluffyMcCloud · 12/09/2017 19:50

I dream very vividly regularly. But one that sticks in my mind was when I was at college and I had a horrible dream about a male friend of mine. We used to walk to college together and for about a week I walked a really long way round to avoid him as the dream was so vivid and real I felt terrified of him. I eventually got over it but i never told him why I stopped speaking to him and completely avoided him for a week. It was horrible. I still have to actively separate it from actual memories from college. He was a lovely gentle chap too.

Original poster
vividdream · 12/09/2017 19:54

I feel sort of changed by this dream. Like the atmosphere from it stayed with me and is slowly fading away. So strange. These kind of dreams really make you question reality. I don't even remember my dreams most nights, so I am really puzzled how my brain managed to create this vivid and memorable dream!

OP posts:
McTufty · 12/09/2017 19:59

A few years ago I dreamed my father died (luckily he was, and is, alive and well). When I woke up I wasn't sure if I'd dreamed it. I had to call him to check he was ok, he thought I was mad. But the feeling of heartbreak in the dream was very real.

allegretto · 12/09/2017 20:01

Yes, I dreamt that my grandmother had died (in the past in the dream). I couldn't remember if it was true or not when I woke up.

itreallyiswhatitis · 12/09/2017 20:01

Yes....I've had several memorable dreams when what I dreamt was exactly what I would see if I layed in my bed......I dreamt that I saw (and felt) a draft lifting up the curtains and then my an image of my (deceased) mum looking at from my bedside but I was paralysed and couldn't move.

Another time, I dreamt that my only child, a girl, in fact had a twin sister who I forgot about at the hospital, but was reunited when she was 10...but the twin was the opposite of what my daughter was.....shy, sad, lacking confidence....I felt so bad and so guilty for being such a neglectful and bad parent, even after I woke up. I was traumatised and upset for nearly a week before I got over it.

PeanutButterIsEverything · 12/09/2017 20:03

I have a very vivid memory of sitting in my parents car outside a house on our street while mum popped in to see the old chap that lived there. Whilst she was away from the car I managed to get the handbrake off and the car started to roll down the road. Mum had to run out and grab the car and leap in to stop it. I must have been under the age of 7, probably about 4 or 5.

Except mum swears it didn't happen, she has no memory of such an event and has no idea what I am talking about. Not the sort of thing one forgets as a parent really is it, having to run after your runaway car with your small child inside!

So did I dream it? Was there something that happened that wasn't quite as dramatic as I remember (so that mum has forgotten), and that I've embellished in my mind? I'll never know but it's really fascinating how your brain mixes dreams and reality sometimes. Makes you realise how unreliable we really are and how much we still don't know about the mind.

Puffpaw · 12/09/2017 20:04

Like the atmosphere from it stayed with me and is slowly fading away.
Yes, often get this.
I have very vivid dreams, and much as dame described.
Glad it's not just me.

CupFullOfSpiders · 12/09/2017 20:05

I used to have loads of vivid dreams about being sucked up to the ceiling by a ghostly force and trapped there/dragged in the air from room to room - basically impossible in real life, but the only one that felt like it could actually have happened still sticks with me. I was living alone in a studio flat. I was napping on the sofa when I heard the front door close, and saw a man come in. He paced around in front of me, and I can remember hearing his keys jingling, and him sighing, then just staring at me. Then, nothing, until my phone beeped and I woke up in an empty room. Immediately freaked out, obviously, but when I checked the front door it was locked from the inside. Thanks, brain! Still took ages to stop my heart pounding though!